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Computing Resources

UNIX User's Guide > E-mail

  1. E-Mail Addresses
  2. How do I forward mail to another E-Mail address?
  3. How do I configure Outlook Express or another email client?
  4. How do I enable a vacation email auto-responder?
  5. Running Pine
  6. Reading Messages with Pine
  7. Sending Messages with Pine
  8. How do I make a "Reply-To:" address in Pine?
  9. Running Elm
  10. Reading Messages with Elm
  11. Sending Messages with Elm

From your UNIX account, you can correspond with users on this system as well as users on other systems connected to the Internet. To send and receive mail, you use a Mail User Agent (MUA), often called a mail reader. The standard mail reader found on every UNIX system is called mail. Unfortunately, mail can be confusing to novice users. If you'd like to learn how to use mail, use the man command to read its manual page. In this section we will concentrate on two of the more user-friendly mail readers on UMUC's UNIX systems: Elm and Pine.

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E-mail Addresses

Like paper mail, electronic mail needs an address so that the mail will reach the intended recipient. A typical e-mail address is in the form name@somewhere.or.other, where name is the name the person uses to log into the system and somewhere.or.other is the Internet address of the machine on which the person's account is located. The address of a user on Nova would be account@nova.umuc.edu (e.g., godzilla@nova.umuc.edu).

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Forwarding E-mail

Create a simple text file in your home directory called .forward which contains your target E-Mail address:

  1. Polaris> cd
    Moves you to your home directory if you are not there already.

  2. Polaris> echo  myAddress@yahoo.com > .forward
    Don't forget the period! This creates the file.

  3. Polaris> cat  .forward
    Verify that the file was created and the address is correct.

That's all! Test it by sending yourself an E-Mail.

Another method is to open the pico editor and create the file:

  1. Polaris>  pico  .forward

  2. Type the e-mail address of the account you want to receive your forwarded mail.

  3. Press [CTRL]x and answer "y" to save your changes.=

Incoming mail will automatically be forwarded to the account you specified in your ".forward" file.

To keep a backup copy you need two lines in the .forward file. The first line should specify the e-mail address that will receive the forwarded mail. The second line should specify the user's username on Nova or Polaris, prefaced with a "\".

For example, to forward his mail to "mymail@somewhere.else" and retain a copy on Nova or Polaris, the user "cm999z99" would have a .forward file containing the following two lines: 

mymail@somewhere.else
\cm999z9

The "\" prevents the mailers on Nova and Polaris from going into a loop.

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Configure an E-Mail client

The following settings can be used to configure a local email client (such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird, Entourage, Evolution, etc.) on your personal computer:

  • Ask your Internet Service Provider (ISP) for the following information:
    Note:  The Outgoing SMTP server information can only be provided by your ISP. Please call the number on your monthly Internet bill if you are unsure of who to contact. UMUC does not know your outgoing SMTP settings.

    1. Outgoing SMTP Servername: ____________________

    2. Authentication required? ( Y / N )

      • Username: _______________________

      • Password: _______________________

  • Type of account: IMAP

  • Incoming server: polaris.umuc.edu

  • Outgoing Server: (see above)

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Enable a vacation message

The following procedure may be used on any of UMUC's UNIX systems to enable an e-mail auto-responder:

BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR VACATION

  1. Log into your account.

  2. Type: vacation

  3. You will be placed into the PICO editor (PICO is the same editor used with the Pine e-mail program) to edit the text of the response that will be sent when someone sends you mail. DO NOT DELETE THE "From:" LINE OR THE "Subject:" LINE!

  4. After you've finished editing the response message, press [CTRL]x

  5. At the "Would you like to see it?" prompt press "y" if you'd like to see the message you just edited, or press "n" to continue.

  6. At the "Would you like to edit it?" prompt, press "y" if you'd like to re-edit the response message, or press "n" to continue.

  7. At the "Would you like to enable the vacation feature?" prompt, press "y" to enable the auto-responder, or press "n" to exit without enabling the auto-responder.

WHEN YOU RETURN FROM VACATION TURN OFF THE AUTO-RESPONDER

  1. Log into your account.

  2. Type: vacation

  3. At the "Would you like to see it?" prompt, press "n".

  4. At the "Would you like to edit it?" prompt, press "n".

  5. At the "Would you like to remove it and disable the vacation feature?" prompt, press "y".

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Running Pine

To run Pine, just type pine at the system prompt. When you start Pine, you're presented with a main menu similar to the one shown below.

There are two ways to choose a command from the main menu. First, you can use the arrow keys (or the p and n keys) to move the highlight bar up and down through the list of choices. Second, you can simply type the letter of the command you want to execute; for example, typing i from the main menu will take you to your "inbox" or (main mailbox).

Nova> pine        
  
 PINE 3.92 
MAIN MENU 
 Folder: INBOX  1 Message
 
?
 
HELP 
 -  Get help using Pine
 
C
 
COMPOSE MESSAGE
 
 -  Compose and send a message
 
I
 
FOLDER INDEX 
 -  View messages in current folder
 
L
 
FOLDER LIST 
 -  Select a folder to view
 
A
 
ADDRESS BOOK 
 -  Update address book
 
S
 
SETUP
 
 -  Configure or update Pine
 
Q
 
QUIT 
 -  Exit the Pine program
 
Copyright 1989-1996, Pine is a trademark of the University of Washington.
 
? Help 
P PrevCmd
 
R RelNotes
 
O Other CMDS L [ListFldrs]
 
N Next CMD 
K KBLock

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Reading Messages with Pine

To read a message with Pine, simply move the highlight bar using the cursor keys (or the p and n keys). When you reach the message you want to view, press [ENTER].

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Sending Messages with Pine

  1. Select c (for compose) from the main menu.

  2. Enter the address of the intended recipient of the message and press [ENTER]. Multiple recipients may be specified by separating each e-mail address with a comma or a space.

  3. If you would like to send a copy of your message to another user, enter that person's e-mail address at the carbon copy prompt (Cc:). Multiple recipients may be specified by separating each e-mail address with a comma or a space.

  4. If you are attaching a file to a message, enter the name of the file here. The user who receives this message must be using a mail reader that understands MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) to read the attachment. The safest way to attach a text file to a message is to use pico's [CTRL]R command to read the file into the message buffer while you're sending the message.

  5. Type the subject of your message and hit [ENTER].

  6. Type in the text of your message. When you've finished composing your message, hit [CTRL]X and answer yes to send it. 

    PINE 3.88 
    COMPOSE MESSAGE
    		 
    Folder: (CLOSED)
    		 
    0 Messages
    		 
    To       : rodan, gamera@cave7.monster-island.jp
    Cc       : godzuki
    Attachmnt: Subject  : No free lunch!
    		 
    ----- Message Text -----    It is with great sadness that I must inform you that
 I'll have to   cancel our lunch engagement today.  I've already eaten 500 people 
 and it's not even 10am yet.  Please do go without me, however.    -G
    		 
    ^G Get Help
    		 
    ^O WriteOut 
    ^R Read File
    		 
    ^Y Prev Pg
    		 
    ^K Cut Text
    		 
    ^C Cur Pos
    		 
    ^X Exit 
    ^J Justify 
    ^W Where is
    		 
    ^V Next Pg
    		 
    ^U Uncut Text
    		 
    ^T To Spell


    Additional information on PINE can be found at : http://www.washington.edu/pine

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Make a "Reply-To:" address in Pine

  1. From Pine's main menu, press "s" (for SETUP).

  2. At the "Choose a setup task from the menu below:" prompt, press "c" (for Config).

  3. Press "w", and at the "Word to find:" prompt, type "customized-hdrs" (without the quotes).

  4. Press "a" (for "Add Value").

  5. At the "Enter the text to be added:" prompt, type "Reply-To:" followed by the e-mail address you want to receive replies. For example:

  6. Reply-To: godzilla@smash.org

  7. Press "e" (for "Exit Config").

  8. At the "Commit Changes" prompt, press "y".

Whenever you compose a message, the address you've specified will automatically be included in the "Reply-To:" field.

If you no longer want replies to go to the address you specified, you can use the following procedure to remove your custom Reply-To: header:

  1. From Pine's main menu, press "s" (for SETUP).

  2. At the "Choose a setup task from the menu below:" prompt, press "c" (for Config).

  3. Press "w", and at the "Word to find:" prompt, type "customized-hdrs" (without the quotes).

  4. Press "d" (for "Delete Value").

  5. At the "Really Delete 1 Item" prompt, press "y".

  6. Press "e" (for "Exit Config").

  7. At the "Commit Changes" prompt, press "y".

For additional information on using PINE, please visit: The PINE Information Center located at: www.washington.edu/pine/.

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Running Elm

To run Elm, type elm at the system prompt. Elm's main menu will be displayed, along with a brief listing of the first few messages in your mailbox.

Each line contains the date the message was received, the name or address of the sender, the number of lines in the text of the message(shown in parentheses), and the subject of the message.

A menu of commonly used commands is displayed at the bottom of the screen;you may use any of these commands by pressing the first letter of the command. For example, d will delete the current message and q will quit the program.

Nova> elm        
Mailbox is '/var/mail/godzilla' with 2 messages [ELM 2.4 PL22]
 
   1   Jul 18 Glenn Gamera 
(22)   re: Let's do lunch!  
2   Jul 18 Godzilla  
(18)   Let's do lunch!
 
You can use any of the following commands by pressing the first character:
d)elete or u)ndelete mail, m)ail a message, r)eply or f)orward mail, q)uit
To read a message, press <return>  j = move down, k = move up, ? = help
 
Command:
  

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Reading Messages with Elm

To read a message, simply use the up and down cursor keys to move the highlight bar to the desired message and then press [ENTER]. Elm only has room to display 10 messages at a time, so there will often be more than one "page" of messages available to you. Use the right and left arrow keys to move from page to page; you may also simply type the number of a message to go directly to that message.

Note that many other Elm commands (such as delete, reply, and forward) also operate on the currently highlighted message.

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Sending Message with Elm

To mail a message with Elm, press the m key (for mail). Elm will prompt you for the addresses of the intended recipients of the message; you may enter one or more e-mail addresses at this prompt (multiple addresses should be separated by commas or spaces). Note that to send mail to someone whose account is on the same system as yours, you need only enter the person's account name; the "@hostname.domainname" portion of the address is unnecessary.

Next you will be prompted for the subject of the message. Enter a few words describing what the message is about. You will then be asked to enter the e-mail addresses of people who are to receive a carbon copy of the message. Again, you can enter one or more e-mail addresses (separated by commas) or just press [ENTER] if you don't want to include any CCs (see following example).

Command: m  
Send the message to: rodan, gamera@cave7.monster-island.jp
Subject of message: Let's do lunch!      
Copies to: godzilla

Next you will be prompted with a menu like the following. Pressing s will cause the message to be sent. Pressing e returns you to pico, where you may continue editing the text of the message. The h key allows you to change some of the destination information; for example, you can use this option to add people to the CC (carbon copy) list. Finally, to quit without sending the message, press f.

Please choose one of the following options by parenthesized letter: s
             e)dit message, edit h)eaders, s)end it, or f)orget it.

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